Seal.



nail/17111111111111!!!11111 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlI/IIIIII III Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

INVEN TOR' ATTOREYS L. V. MATHER.

' SEAL.

APPLI'OATION FILED [A111, 1906.

II IIIIIII/ ms "0km; PETERS co.. wuumomn, v.2.

UNITED sTA rEs PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS VURNAM MATHER, OF MILAN, MICHIGAN.

SEAL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEwrs VURNAM MATHER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Milan, in the county of Monroe and State of Michi an, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seals, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to car seals and to certain improvements therein whereby certainty of operation is obtained together with simplicity and durability and consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and more particularly ointed out in the appended claim.

In the rawings, Figure 1 is a view of a car seal embodying features of the invention, in position for closing. Fig. 2 is a view of the seal showing the bottom of the body casing. Fig. 3 is a view of the seal fully locked. Fig. 4 is a view in detail in longitudinal section of the casing with looking springs removed, and Fig. 5 is a view in cross section thereof. Figs. 6 and 7 are views in detail of a cover plate. Figs. 8 and 9 are views in detail of the assembled casing and cover. Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13 are views in longitudinal section of the casing, showing progressively the positions assured by the locking members from the moment of insertion to full engagement.

The seal has the general conventional fea tures of articles of this class of a closed casing permanently secured to one end of a flexible wire or strip whose free end may be turned and thrust into the casing to form a closed loop. In its preferred form, the casing 1 is a substantially rectangular sheet metal plate with its margins upturned for a flange 2 formingsides and ends, a cover 3 being secured thereon by folding the flange down on it in a familiar manner. One end 4 of a flexible strip or wire 5 is passed through an aperture in one of the casing ends and is secured there either by upsetting or bending over, as shown. In closing the seal the other end 6 is thrust through another aperture 7 in the same end and an alined aperture 8 in the opposite end past a pair of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. May 11, 1908.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Serial No. 432,025.

alined shoulders 9 struck u from the bottom of the casin adjacent eac 1 end wall and a central shoulder 10 slightly offset from the line of the others. A pair of similarly disposed U-shaped springs 11 and 12 retained by pins 13 or lugs struck up from the casing are so disposed that one end bears against a shoulder 14, pressed up or otherwise formed in the casing while the other end lies in the path of the strip end 6 which therefore compresses each sprin slightly as it passes it and is crowded thereby against the end shoulders 9. Any attempt to withdraw the strip or wire when once inserted causes the spring 11 to first bend the wire into contact with the central shoulder and then swings the springs around until the arms 15 and 16 thereof encounter the wire and force it firmly against oflsets 17 and 18 in the casing be tween the shoulders and hold it against displacement, the shoulders and offsets forming in effect a ratchet against which the spring arms act as pawls, locking the wire in place, as the side of the casing adjacent the spring pins 13 prevents endwise displacement of the springs. Thus a double locking of the wire is obtained and it may be drawn taut around an object after being inserted, the springs becoming instantly effective and preventing any back play or back slash in the parts.

What I claim as my invention is A car seal comprising a flexible member, a hollow casing ermanently secured to one end thereof and provided with apertures in its ends through which the other end of the flexible member may be passed, shoulders spaced in the casing adjacent the mth of the flexible member therethrough, and U-springs fulcrumed at their bends in the casing, the free ends of the springs lying obliquely across the path of the free member and being adapted to enga e and inbend the member between the shou ders.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEWVIS VURNAh I MATHER. l/Vitnesses C. R. STIOKNEY, WALTER A. GREENBURG. 

